Before making the movie that became Killing Them Softly, The Assassination of Jesse James director Andrew Dominik was developing a biopic of Marilyn Monroe. Actually, Blonde is not quite a biopic — it is an account of the screen icon’s life, but one based on a Joyce Carol Oates novel that imagined Monroe’s thoughts. So not quite non-fiction; or even less non-fiction than biopics often attempt.

Now, on Marilyn’s birthday, Dominik and the star of his last two films, Brad Pitt, have announced that Pitt’s company Plan B will product the film. “We’re going to get this one done,” Pitt says.

The LA Times talked to the two filmmakers, and it sounds almost like Killing Them Softly was a route to getting something more ambitious made, like Blonde. Dominik tells the site,

I wanted to make a $15-million movie. I wanted to make a movie that was cheap and could make its money back, because I’d like to keep working with Brad and I’d like us to have more expensive playdates than the last one. I would like to make someone some money.

It is unclear whether Pitt would act in Blonde, or just produce. Also unclear is whether Naomi Watts, who was once attached to play Marilyn, will remain involved after the film has been back-burnered for a couple years. (The last time we heard much about the movie was in October 2010.)

Plan B’s involvement will definitely help the film, especially after the company helped produce two of the last crop of Best Picture nominees: The Tree of Life and Moneyball.